AKB48 BEGINNER  The Game
by naitou
Summary: The game has begun. Everything that first looked like a bad dream isn't a bad dream after all. It's real! Live life through pain and find your way out. If possible...alive.
1. Chapter 1

**[BEGINNER] – The Game**

By **naitou**

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_Disclaimer:_ This is fiction. None of the girls belong to me, I'm just borrowing them to create a death fest. Just kidding. Or maybe not. Also, I like to slash. Subtext between characters is so going to happen. Don't like then go read something else, no one is making you read this.

_Warning:_ This work of fiction contains visual violence that may not be liken or appreciated by sensible people. If you can't bear to see your oshimen suffering a brutal death or being hurt severely, don't read! Don't say I didn't warned you.

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**[Choose Player…]**

In the beginning everything was dark. The lights were off and no sound could be heard. No one could know how long it had been like that or even what was inside of such darkness. Then suddenly the lights went on. The background was pure white and a girl, whose head was down, slowly lifted. Her name was well known and she was the ultimate captain. The core of the group, the soul of it.

She lifted her head, with dark blue eyes and a face wearing a deadly serious expression. Not her usual serious face, but a sadistic serious one with those eyes shaping a look that could kill without feeling remorse. She was dressed in white and had headphones covering her ears. They were also white and there was a half done tie around her bare naked neck.

The second she blinked the room changed. It was now all black again, only this time we could see her.

She could sense it. It was closer and ready to make its entrance. But she was also ready for it.

She stepped forward and when her foot touched the ground a red sphere emerged. It stayed still for seconds and then changed into a sharp pyramid. Takamina closed her eyes and when the thing started to move at light speed to pierce her, the moment it almost touched her skin, she avoided it and with her hand now holding a lightning sword, she crushed it with no mercy. The crashing sound dispersed through the room and the broken pieces fell on the floor. It soon disappeared, leaving the girl alone.

She walked forward, following her senses in hope to find what she was looking for.

**[***]**

On the outside of the hotel, Maeda Atsuko decided to spend her break closer to the beach. She had been doing a photoshoot, wearing a dark suit to set a theme, where all she had to do was appeal to the feminine audience. It was a glamorous magazine, where the small details were taken into account and everything had to be perfect to please its costumers. Miyazawa Sae once posed for it, using her _Ikemen_ image, that not only impressed her teammates but also her fans and regular audience. Maeda had been invited to give it a try too and so far nothing seemed different from her regular photoshoot sessions. That is…maybe this time she had a bit more clothing covering her body.

She walked and walked, thinking about trivial stuff, not really looking around just immerged in her own thoughts, when her feet finally stopped. She had reached the limit of the coast and was in a high place. As she lowered her head she could see the waves of the sea, crushing against the tall rocks, whispering harshly against them. She stood there for a while, then her hand made a strange move. Not noticing that she was holding something in between her fingers, a small, thin cigarette reached her lips and she breath in.

As the smoke left her mouth she strangely realized that something was not right. She suddenly couldn't remember how she got to this high place or what deep thoughts she had to make her walk so nonchalantly. She had the feeling that the beach was plain with no sign of rock structures. And the cigarette. She didn't know where she got it. She didn't smoke. Something was off but before she could think further about it, the wind blow strong against her face and hurting her eyes she closed them.

**[New Game…]**

Oshima Yuko woke up in a white room. Last time she could remember she was in Haruna's place. Her eyes moved around frantic trying to sort what happened. She called for Haruna but no answer. Her voiced echoed in the place and the clarity was hurting her brown eyes. She didn't even felt like laughing if this was some sort of joke. She couldn't spot anything other than white and started to run.

After spending all her energy trying to find a door she stopped. This could only be a joke and she was going to kill whoever had the idea. Feeling her forehead sweaty she wiped it with the back of her hand. Then she noticed the black glove on her hand that wasn't there previously. She looked down and her eyes wide opened at the outfit she was wearing. She had an almost transparent shirt, a black tie messed up, colorful skirt and black boots.

She shook her head and once again tried to call for someone.

**[***]**

When the wind stopped to blow, Atsuko opened her eyes, just to see herself in an entirely different place. The beach disappeared and was replaced by a bedroom. She couldn't believe in what was happening and for a second thought that was all but a dream. She couldn't just be in a place and then all of a sudden in another. Especially in two places that she didn't know how she got there.

Her clothes were also different. The black suit was replaced by the outfit she wore for the shooting of _Beginner_. It wasn't the most comfortable outfit ever, so she felt a bit off.

As she took a look around the room, she found a mirror and felt the urge to at least check if she was the same person, since everything around her and about her looked different every second that passed. When her eyes laid on the mirror she cringed her teeth. Even her eyes color changed and the dark blue coloration wasn't even from contacts. Her skin tone went pale and she felt like sitting. She took a deep breath and remembered about her cellphone.

She quickly got up and looked for it. Then she reminded herself that this could all be a weird dream and if it was the case, she obviously wasn't going to dream about her cellphone.

When turning her head again to the mirror, a silver flash blinked from a small table closer to the bed, making Atsuko question herself of what it could be. She reached for it and the closer she got the obvious and strange it seemed. It was a silver sword, with a very thin shape and some symbols on it. It was also very beautiful so she touched it. But then something happened. As her long fingers laid its touch on it, the mirror and window glass crashed, causing a very painful and scary sound. Atsuko brought her hands to her ears to prevent damage on her, since the pieces of glass were flying in all directions.

When it all stopped, Atsuko started to cry and the only thing she wanted was to awake. And for Takamina to be around when she did.

_**[BEGINNER]**_

Haruna was running. She was in some sort of lab place, scared to death, pushing her legs to its limit and never stop running. She was starting to feel numb on them but acknowledging that something was pursuing her, she simply could not stop.

It started to feel like she had been running in circles. Everytime she entered a new room, it just felt like the last one. Then she tripped into something and fell on the floor. Her right knee was hurting badly and her hands were red. She hears something she can't recognize and the next minute that something slashes her left arm. She looks at the blood and stresses even worse when her blood is not red, but instead a very weird light blue, greenish one. The cut was a bit deep and there was fluid everywhere. She didn't know how long as she been in that place, only that she was so scared, stressed, frustrated and crying all over the place. She just wanted to get out of there and if it was a dream, to wake up and never fall asleep again. But somehow it didn't felt like a dream at all. She couldn't explain it but it didn't.

She got up and with all her body shacking she slowly reached for the next room. The anticipation made something shine on her hand. She touched the light with her other hand and a blue helmet covered her face. She was surprised and weird out from it. Then the shock became greater when in her right hand she was holding a conic structure. She tried to drop it and then realized that she wasn't really holding it, but instead, her hand turned into it. She was so freaked out that she almost started to hyperventilate.

"_Calm down Haruna, it must be only a very bad, bad dream."_

She gulped and opened the next door's room. It was a different room. All black and with nothing inside. Seemed like a little cube's room. She entered it and had the feeling it was bigger than it seemed. Her boots were making a lot of sound there and she couldn't hear anything else but her own noise. Her eyes were having difficulties in identifying what was in the room, if there was indeed anything there.

As she touched one of the walls, her fingers seemed to press something. The sound of floor movement startled her and above her feet the black mosaics moved to the opposite sides, leaving only a thin but strong glass like mosaic shown. Haruna bend down and almost puke at what she saw. She screamed like crazy and her guts were so close to spill it all out. She realized that below her feet was another room, just like the one she was in, the difference was, she wasn't the only one trapped inside. Someone was there too with her and probably missed her for a few rounds. The girl was handless, with both of them cut and her chest exposed. Her face was bloody and almost purple. There was blood everywhere, again, in the form of that blue greenish elixir. She recognized her for being a Team K member. She saw her in Miyazawa Sae's newest unit, she was Nonaka Misato and she was dead. Brutally killed. Haruna shook her head in disbelief and tried to make sense of all of it. What kind of person would do this so someone? This couldn't be real!

Something biped on her helmet and she raised her eyes to see it. She wasn't sure of what it meant at first but then draw a theory. And if it meant what she thought it was, she had to start running again or she would be next.

_**TEAM K #26 NONAKA MISATO**_

_**[47 TO GO]**_

**[PLAY]**


	2. Chapter 2

**[BEGINNER] – The Game**

By **naitou**

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**[loading file... ... ...]**

When Nonaka Misato woke up, she had absolutely no idea where she was. She kind of felt a chill in her body and her outfit was weird. She had black tight pants, a white tank top and long pink gloves. Her hair was done in a ponytail, a very tight and high one, with a red pair of laboratory-kind glasses. She could see her reflection on the black mosaics of the walls and it wasn't helping her confused state. She was feeling her heart beating hard on her chest and brought a hand to it. Her breathing was disturbing and she hardly could produce saliva to shallow. Since she couldn't hear something she tried call for help.

"_Hello! Is there somebody?..."_

No one seemed to answer.

"_Anybody…?"_

Moving around in what seemed like a cubic room, her hands were touching the mosaics, trying to find something that could help her realize where she was and what was happening. But as time went by she started to feel trapped and a bit paranoid. She wasn't used to this. She used to work and do her things in the theater; sometimes she would shoot for some programs but never in the same way and with the same crazy themes some girls were in. So this was all new and while she was thinking that maybe it was one of those situations, the lack of people and weirdness of the place seemed to deny her feelings.

"_Come on! Get me out of here! What sick prank is this?"_

The unchanged situation was really getting Nonaka worried. She was even feeling a bit dizzy and claustrophobic.

She took off the stupid red glasses and tossed them to the floor. Then she stripped the pink gloves and with some difficult pushing it, her frustration ended up with tears dropping down from her cheek. She sat on the floor and hands covering her face, she cried and sobbed for a while.

"_What did I do to deserve this?...Oh why…"_

For almost an hour she stayed like that. Lost, confuse, frustrated and sobbing at her own misery. Then something seemed to move on the floor. She looked up and a small red sphere came rolling to her feet. She looked at it for a bit and felt the urge to grab it. As she did, she also got up and inspessionated the sphere. It seemed like a normal ball but she had no idea how it got there.

"_Maybe there's a way out!"_

Maybe there was hope and that was exactly what she was starting to feel. But to her misfortune, soon she would find out that there was no way to escape and that death was the only thing waiting for her.

Still holding the sphere, she walked around again and touched every mosaic from the walls. None seemed to move or even react to her touch, but at some point the sphere reacted. Her hand was trembling and she put it in the air to see what would happen and to her surprise the worst did.

The small sphere heated up and then exploded on the girl's hand. The impact stroke her like the worst and painful experience ever, and instead of blood she was draining a greenish elixir alike. In her head the pain was real and had to be, she was watching her hand completely destroyed, bone exposed and muscles teared apart, but somehow she wasn't feeling anything and was of it came from her head. But the shock and disgust were clouding her system, so even she wasn't really feeling pain, her brain made her think so.

Crying like a lunatic she felt for the first time the collar on her neck. It was emmiting some sort of signal.

She feel on her knees and still holding her injured hand, she lowered her head and screamed.

_"What the FUCK!"_

Then something from the wall in front of her seemed to emmerge. It was a pink box with some lettering that she couldn't read and it moved in her direction. Frozen in the situation and with her face red from crying, she watched the thing move and breathed from her mouth. As it came closer, the box changed her form and two black arms formed. They looked sharp like and arrow and the moment the box was face to face to Nonaka, without previous notice, they fell from the box and in parallel, they cut Nonaka's hands. The girl saw her big hands falling on the floor and the green liquid splash on over her. With eyes wide open she was ready to scream again at the bizarre scene, but her actions were interrupted with the box striking again. It changed again and forming a wider razor blade it advanced to Nonaka's chest, tearing her flesh and exposing her guts. The girl died right way and the red glasses on the floor flashed, appearing a smal text in it.

The collar in her neck broke and the signal died.

_**[BEGINNER]**_

Watanabe Mayu is cornered and has her armor suit on. Just like some other girls, she is wearing the same _Beginner _outfit used to shoot the then censored PV. But Mayu is a bit different from her colleges. She lives in the world of anime, manga and video games. She absorves everything in them and what she had in front of her reminded her of many things she has seen before. At first she thought that maybe she was dreaming and that it was the coolest dream ever, but as time passed by she realized that maybe this was something else. And then, _that thing_ appeared. She couldn't quite put it into words since it was constantly changing it's shape.

She felt like she was in some sort of virtual game. The blue helmet on her head looked just like one of those she sees in her series and when she touched it to check it out, she found all of these functions, just like she would if she was in a virtual reality. She needed time to see it better but it was about that time the _thing_ appeared. Like an experienced player she quickly discovered that she could materialize a box into her head and shoot from it. She had a feeling that _the thing_ couldn't come too close to her, so she shooted right away. It avoided her energetic balls sometimes, but as Mayu nonstop tried to destroy it, _the thing_ got smaller and smaller, eventually fragmenting into tiny pieces.

_"Cool!",_ her excitment has high and felt she was in her world. As the pieces crashed against the floor Mayu's curiosity took the best of her and she moved forward. She had to see more of it.

**[...]**

Footsteps caused Maeda Atsuko to wake. She was curled up to her knees, holding her ears when she opened her eyes just to find herself again in another place. It was a full white room, with apparently nothing on it. As she got up confusion filled up once again her head. Now she really had no idea what was going on.

Then out of nowhere someone came from behind and she identified who was causing the footsteps she first heard. It was a friend of hers, who always made her at ease and that fully well known. Her name was Sato Yukari and she used to be her teammate ever since the beginning of Team A's formation.

_"Yukarin?"_

The girl was in casual clothes and smiled. Maeda walked to her and kept a little distance.

_"Atsuko, don't be afraid."_

_"Where are we?"_

The girl kept her smile and spoke foundly to Team A's ace.

_"You have to save Takamina. You see, this is exactly what it seems."_

_"What do you mean? Where's Takamina?"_

_"Shh. I'm here to warn you. You see, everything you do from now on it's going to have it's consequences. So be careful."_

Maeda couldn't understand at all what her friend was trying to say. And it wasn't because it was Yukari, she long ago got used to the girl's way.

_"You were dragged it for a reason Atsuko. You need to find it for yourself. I can't help you, not me, not anyone. You need to live to understand why. Don't die and fight."_

_"How?"_

_"Use the weapon that was given to you. It's going to be hard, fighting against people you trust, fighting against the odds of this place, but you are Maeda Atsuko so you should be okay. Trust yourself and move at your own pace. You'll be fine, don't be afraid."_

_"Yukarin, I don't understand. What is this? Where am I?"_

_"This is not just a game Atsuko. Wherever you do here, you'll see what you did in the real world. But you have to pass through this. All of you have. That's what she wants."_

_"She? Who?"_

_"You'll find out. I have to go now."_

_"What? No! Yukarin please don't go! Help me!"_

But as soon as the older girl said so, she disappeared. Atsuko's eyes wide opened as the girl vanished, just like she was some sort of illusion. Was she allucinating?

_"Takamina..."_

**[...]**

Out there was Takahashi destroying everything around her. Everytime something appeared she quickly crushed it down. She too was trapped in a black room when Komori Mika showed herself. She had that usual blank and lost expression on her face. But Takahashi knew what she was and how materialized her.

_"This is how you're going to play now?"_

She opened the palm of her hand and something shone on her black glove.

_"Is this your answer to my distractions? Summoning more girls to keep me busy so you can figure out how to find me?"_

Komori grinned and her face became pale. Around her eyes there was heavy make up, making her seem more obscene and scary if anyone would take a look at her. But Takahashi wasn't afraid. She had a plan. She always had one.

_"Patetic. I told you I was going to save them all!_"

Komori materialized a dragger and started to swing it in the air, moving closer and closer to Takahashi, soon trying to hit her. Takahashi used her speed to avoid getting slashed and tiring Komori she found an opening to punch her on the torso. Then she ran away from the girl and invoked her own weapon. Komori was strangely fast and came right after for a second round, but Takahashi had already the advantage and as soon as the girl tried to slash her face, the captain thrusts her blade into the girl's neck and opens a deep and ugly cut on her thin muscle reaching her vein. Komori seems shocked and surprised and can't even bring a hand to her wound as she stops breathing and realizes that Takahashi found a vital spot of her. She fells on the floor unconscient and something from the floor emerges just to close the dead corpse into a some sort of big ball. As it's halfs close in a perfect sphere holding the body inside, it returns to the ground leaving no trace that a fight occured. Takahashi drops a rose's petal to the floor and begins to run again. She had no choice but to run and hide again from what was after her.

_**TEAM B #39 KOMORI MIKA  
**_

_**[46 TO GO]**_


	3. Chapter 3

**[BEGINNER] – The Game**

By **naitou**

Ota Aika, Sashihara Rino and Hirajima Natsumi were walking through an infinite hotel's corridor. All woke up in different rooms, all were confuse and all of them were scared.

Natsumi was the first to grow some guts and leave the room. She remembers entering the studio for the shooting of AKBINGO and taking a nap during break, but she wasn't tired enough to not feel the presence of new people coming in and moving her body around. But now that she woke in a completely different place her memory was failing her. Even her clothes weren't the AKBINGO's ones. She left the room to realize she was in some sort of hotel, because the walls were all finely decorated and there was expensive furniture everywhere, room doors all numbered and waiting for the cards to open them. She sure knew she didn't even had a keycard so she jumped to the obvious conclusion that someone really did something to her. As she carefully touched every door, the second her fingers were about to touch the rack for the card, the door opened and a scared almost frozen Sashihara came out.

"_Nacchan!"_

Nicknamed Sashiko, the girl hugged her and Natsumi couldn't almost breathe. She was glad to see her old teammate that now was in Team A, but most of all she was seeing someone who was also in the same situation as her. Everyone knew how scary-cat Sachiko was and was written all over her face that she was completely lost and had no idea what the hell was going on. She was supposed to be elsewhere, most likely shooting for some magazine or having dance lessons.

"_Where are we? What is this place?"_

"_I don't know. I just woke up and I was here. I'm pretty sure this isn't an AKBINGO studio."_

"_I was supposed to be photo shooting for the new Weekly Playboy! But now I'm here! Nowhere!"_

As the two tried to figure out a way to explain things, someone appeared at the end of the corridor. She was small and as she got closer, she started to run in the direction of the girls, with her dimples showing as she got closer to them.

"_Rabutan?"_

It was indeed the _tsundere_ princess. She had her hair all tied up but her cute and dimple marked face assured no mistake. She was sweating and breathing a bit heavily.

"_I've been running around for hours! I'm so happy I'm not alone in here! I've been calling my lugs out and seemed that no one else was around."_

"_You mean probably it's only the three of us?"_

"_I don't know! This place looks all the same. Same furniture, same walls, same floor carpet, same colors, the rooms are even all the same!"_

"_Wait, you said the rooms were all the same? I've been trying to get into them but I didn't have the cards for it."_

"_I don't know, mine didn't have a card slot…"_

Nacchan gulped and found it strange for a second. Sachiko was shaking and becoming paranoid.

"_We're all gonna die! I FEEL IT! This looks just like a horror movie!"_

"_Shut up hetare! Just because you can't bungee jump and get into a haunted house that sure doesn't mean we are all in the same sack."_

"_But look at this, can't you see how weird this all is? We were supposed to be in different places and now we end up in this unknown place with no explanation?"_

"_Could this be a Shukan or Nemousu thing?",_ Natsumi came back from her thoughts to calm down the two girls.

"_Where are the cameras? And the micros? I thought about it too at first but I don't think so. They are never that much clever in hiding them."_

Rabutan was acting tough and seemed very annoyed by the situation, but she was as scared and lost as any of them. Sachiko's brain was deep frying and Natsumi was still thinking about it all. Suddenly the _hetare_ queen had an idea.

"_Hey Rabutan can I kiss you?"_

"_What no way!"_

But after her answer, Sachiko still jumped on her, trying at all costs to kiss her. Rabutan was blushing hard and slapped Sachiko.

"_Noo, get off me! Pervert!"_

Sachiko touched her skin and felt the heat. She sure had a heavy hand.

"_What were you thinking? Is this your newly found romantic sense of opportunity?"_

"_No. I thought that maybe this was just a bad dream but after that in no way would you slap me in my own dream!"_

Natsumi facepalmed. The three started to walk and for what seemed like more than an hour, the scenery remained always the same, like they were walking in circles. Sashiko reacted to every sound, even her own footsteps scared her and Rabutan was so trying as hard as she could to hide her stress. She wouldn't show her weaknesses to Sachiko, like never!

"_I don't know about you guys, but this seems helpless."_

"_Now what, we wait? There's gotta be something we can do?"_

"_Hey, how about we wake up? This is such a weird dream, I wonder if I drank too much soy milk."_

Rabutan prepared again to raise her hand.

"_This is not a dream!"_

Natsumi calmed Sachiko down and touched her shoulder. Suddenly a shadow appeared at the end of the corridor. She's moving fast and grabbed Natsumi by the shoulders.

"_YOU'RE HERE!"_

She was speaking like a crazy and even her pitched voice sounded terrible. Her name was Kobayashi Kana. She had a very strange and laughable character. Curiously this situation didn't change her a bit. Or so they had thought.

"_Kana?"_

Then something happened. The walls began to dissolve, the painting burned like paper, replacing its original color with a brown tone. The furniture began to degenerate and the whole scenery was changing by itself, swallowing itself. Kana lowered her head, Natsumi as well. Rabutan pated Natsumi on the shoulder and the girl turned to her with a very bizarre look. She and Kana exchanged looks and then Kana slapped Rabutan.

"_Why did you do that for?"_

But something told her that Kana wasn't listening. As the room continued to change, just like a morbid reality, Sachiko wide opened her eyes when she noticed the collars around the girls necks. She had one too and she recognized them from a movie she once saw. If it was the same kind of collar, they were screwed.

The floor started to crush and Sachiko grabbed Rabutan by the hand and pushed her. Running away from the other two girls, they went after them. From Natsumi's sleeve she took out three small and thin knifes. She didn't notice she had them all the time, but now she was throwing them at her friends. One of them pierced Sachiko's left arm. The girl stopped and looked at her limb. It was dropping green elixir and then she noticed something. It didn't hurt. The knife penetrated her muscles but no pain could be felt. She looked at Rabutan who was shocked at her reaction and almost fainted.

"_It doesn't hurt!"_

"_What?"_

"_It doesn't hurt at all! It's so gross and it doesn't hurt!"_

That's when they wondered why were they running away from Natsumi and Kana. Sachiko's body decided that for herself and as they realized the other two girls were getting closer, they began to run away.

The floor was breaking under their feet and behind them they could hear Kana groaning. Something emerged from one of the broken walls and fired a black ball, hitting Sachiko right on her throat. The girl fell backwards and hit her head on the remaining wood of the floor. She's knocked out and Rabutan freaked out.

"_Sasshi! Wake up Sasshi, don't leave me alone in this crazy hell. Sasshi!"_

Kana appeared from behind her and slammed her head hard. She began to laugh like a maniac and in the corner of her mouth some saliva began to drain. Natsumi joined her and holding a knife she then put an arm behind Kana's forehead and holding her, she slit her throat, greenish blood splashing all over the place. The goofy girl fell on her stomach and Natsumi licked the knife.

"_Nacchan!"_

Tears began to fell from Rabutan's face. She couldn't believe the girl just did that. Something was strange with her friend. She too noticed the black collar and its red light flashing. But everything in that hotel was freaking strange. The place continued to degenerate and her teammates were turning against her. She had to at least save Sashiko and herself.

The small girl tried to lift her friend but she was a bit too heavy for her. Natsumi watched her and moving like a zombie, she walked over to her. As she did so, the floor under her feet crashed and she fell. A huge scream was heard and Rabutan rushed to see what happened. She almost puked at the view and cried harder. Natsumi's body was ripped apart in a floor filled with sharp large sticks. It seemed just like those traps used for torture or to haunt animals and there was Natsumi…death.

Rabutan put her hands on her face and cried, inspiring so fast she almost began to hyperventilate. She was sobbing her heart out and couldn't believe what was happening. She no longer cared if the place kept on destroying itself, her friend just died in front of her eyes and worse, even tried to kill her.

The thing that emerged from one of the walls turned pink and divided itself into three sharp portions. It levitated closer to Sachiko for a while and then cut her body into three symmetric parts. The girl didn't even had a chance to fight back or even wake up and died right away when her throat was cut. Rabutan was still sobbing when she looked around searching for Sachiko. When she saw the body cut into three she automatically puked. She coughed and tasted her own tears. Behind her the three portions were still floating and changed their size. They looked like metal bars with a sharp head. Some sort of internal counting reached its zero numer and without notice they pierced Rabutan from behind, penetrating her back and coming out from her eyes and mouth. The small and young body fell to the side and the scenery stopped its auto destruction. It returned to its original appearance and then was replaced by a full white room.

The four bodies were still lying on the floor, bleeding and getting cold. Then the _thing_ acquired a rectangular form and one by one collected them, leaving again no trace that those four girls were murdered and no longer playing.

**TEAM A #2 OTA AIKA ; #7 SASHIHARA RINO**

**TEAM B #45 HARAJIMA NATSUMI ; #38 KOBAYASHI KANA**

**[42 TO GO]**


	4. Chapter 4

Writer's note: the girls' profiles were originally taken from the official source of the PV Beginner (uncensored version). No changes were made to it.

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**[BEGINNER] – The Game**

By **naitou**

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**[loading profile... ... .]**

"_**WATANABE MAYU**__  
An idol final form and the sign and countersign are CG revolutions. Star of the first magnitude of team B that shines in stage._

_BLUE GUARD  
Important, blue mask that defends important face from enemy attack._

_ARM  
Parts necessary to sing with mike. Arms can be installed._

_SQUARE  
It is possible to use it by installing it in the hand. The bullet dashes out from the hole in the square respect. Arms effective to attack enemy away."_

**[return to game? – Y]**

Oshima Yuko was sitting on the floor. Her eyes were burning with the clarity of the room and nothing new happened in the last 3 hours. She was hugging her knees and moving back and forward, her back hitting the strong wall behind her.

Her brain had ceased its functions and she no longer wanted to think about what was happening. She felt tired and her throat was a little sore from her previous screaming session.

She was facing the ground when a known face seemed to appear out of nowhere. When Yuko's eyes spotted her a couple of steps away, her stand-by, low enthusiasm, was replaced by unstoppable heartbeat strokes. She immediately got up and prepared to hug the girl. As she made motions to approach her, the girl's response came a bit off.

"_Stay where you are!"_

She was bearing a very serious expression and for seconds Yuko swore that it didn't even seemed her good friend Noro Kayo. She was wearing casual clothes and her lips formed a straight line. She didn't seem pleased and sometimes it looked like parts of her body were phasing into the white scenario.

"_Yuko listen to me. I don't have much time so promise me you won't take this as a joke."_

Even her voice seemed different. There was no hint of joke on it and Yuko knew that her friend wasn't that much of a good actress to fake all this. The high spirited girl and old teammate had grown and was performing in another group, but their friendship stayed untouched. They had discussed lots of subjects, but Yuko had yet to see a deadly serious Noro.

She gulped and cleared her vision. It was worth the shot and she was already too tired to crack jokes.

"_O-okay..."_

"_I know you probably wonder why you're here and what is this place. Well, this is not a studio and this is not a program's prank."_

"_I was at Kojiparu's house, how did I ended up here?"_

"_Kojima-san's probably here too. Dead or…still alive."_

As she heard the word _dead,_ Yuko felt her heart skip a beat and wondered again if her friend wasn't cracking a joke on her. A bad taste one of course. For someone to say that another person could be dead so easily…wasn't that a bit too much of a sensible and serious thing to say? Yuko wouldn't believe it!

"_What? Kayo-chan, stop that! When did you become such a good actress?"_

But her face didn't change one bit. She was still deadly serious and apathetic to Yuko's giggles and tension releases.

"_I'm not joking Yuko. There is that possibility but I can't go much further into it. Just listen to what I have to say, because there isn't much time for me."_

Yuko decided to nod and hear the rest. She would make her own judgment afterwards.

"_Someone grow very interested in the idea of testing Idols and emulated the Beginner's concept to create this. But this is no ordinary game Yuko. Whatever you do in here reflects a reality on the real world. You must be careful about your actions and decisions; it may cost you a big price."_

"_I don't understand…You're saying someone put me and Kojiparu's in here to play a game? How come is this any different from any other variety show or challenge?"_

"_As I said, you get hurt here, the pain will accompany you in the real world. You die here, you won't get a new chance to play. And it's not just Kojima-san and you. More girls were summoned here, but only a few are really Players."_

"_I'm not really following…"_

"_Then get a grip of yourself and follow my guidance: only one of you guys can make it to the end and win the game. Some atrocious and almost ridiculous things will try to attack you and you must destroy them with your weapon. You need to find the one that will suit you better and use it to draw you freedom path."_

"_Where do I find it?"_

"_It's in you. Summon it and install it on you. Here you are a Player, not a human."_

"_Okay, let me get this right. This is a game and all I have to do is get to the end of it and don't get killed? What about my teammates, who is playing this too?"_

"_There is going to be a time where you need to decide who lives or dies. You have no choice, otherwise that collar you have around your neck will kill you. Also, don't try to remove it or you'll die too. You are all just pieces in a War. Play until the end and release Her…"_

As she mumbled the last words, her body started to phase quickly and without notice. Yuko couldn't let her go so easily as she had yet lots of questions.

"_Don't go Kayo-chan! You're being too vague and not answering at all! Who is She? Why do I need to release her?"_

"_She will be the core of this place, she's trapped and soon she won't be able to control her mind anymore. I can't stay longer…I'm here but not really here. I need to go, I'm just a bug on the system created by Her to make sure you don't die too soon. She can't be located or everything will be over and none of you will get a chance to survive. The answers are everywhere, look for them and -"_

"_What?"_

"_Stay strong Yuko. Fight until the end. EVOLVE…"_

As Noro Kayo's body completely faded into the scene, two strange red squares emerged behind the no longer visible body. They had something imprint on them but Yuko couldn't quite read it. They draw closer and closer, floating on the air, switching their forms gradually.

Yuko observed them cautiously and still processing the words Noro had said, she tried to figure everything out. Was she really serious?

The squares stopped in front of her and stayed still for some seconds. Yuko brought up her hands to touch the metal collar around her neck. It reminded her of something but the sudden change of pace distanced her from further consideration. The squares moved again and each one parted to the ceiling of the room, each one to its corner. Yuko lifted her head to follow them and wide opened her eyes when one of them shoot something in her direction. What at first resembled a tiny ball transformed into a black baton and went straight into Yuko's face direction. Her reflexes allowed her to roll to the side, avoiding it, and then seeing the damage it would have done to her face if it had encountered it. The wall was pierced and destroyed heavily and was bleeding something yellowish…

"_What…is this?"_

As she got up the squares moved again. Her head began to hurt and in her hand something was glowing. She opened it, revealing her palm and with her other hand touched it. Her mind seemed to go blank for a second and she blinked. As her eyes opened again, the room had changed. It was all black and she was seeing it through a blue protection. She looked down and realized that she was into her Beginner's gaming outfit.

"_I don't know what's going on…but I need to get out of here."_

The squares were flying above her head and encircling her. They were moving faster and steady.

Yuko closed her eyes and touched again her collar. She tried to follow Noro's guidance and if this was indeed a game, she needed to reach the Menu and load her stuff, the problem was…how would she do that?

Meanwhile the enemy stroke again. And this time it caught Yuko by surprise. As they encircled her and she was trying to adapt, part of the squares separated into two and now with four small portions, from each emerged a small limb and moved down creating a circular prison. Not seeing what was happening above her head, Yuko felt two of the four limbs grating on her arms, leaving a trace of blood behind.

"_Ahhh!"_

She automatically opened her eyes and moved her arms away, trying not to touch the limbs. Her green-ish fluid was shinning on the black limbs and she shook her head when something crossed her mind.

' …you get hurt here, the pain will accompany you in the real world…'

But her arms weren't hurting at all. It all started in her head when she felt the cut on her skin and saw the fluid dripping.

"_But this doesn't hurt at all…"_

It was when her head draw yet another conclusion: she wasn't bleeding blood, but something else!

"_What is this? Oh my God what is really going on?"_

Now she could read what was written on the squares, as one of them passed the message again, this time flashing it on his limbs. Yuko could read her name on it and her heart skipped a beat.

**[BEGINNER]**

Mayuyu was running across the rooms. She installed some tech into her boots and was moving really fast, as if she had to be somewhere. Up until now it was like any other of her games and she was enjoying this reality. It put all of her expectations to shame, but she was growing bored of the one colored rooms. Either it was black or white, but the shapeshifters compensated for it.

On her face's protector she could track a yellow point blinking in the corner of her vision. Someone was near and she wanted to know who. She also needed answers. She knew this was no ordinary experience and it resembled too much of the stuff she watched and read. If by chance it was an emulation she could expect the things to turn serious.

But part of her just wanted to believe it was all but a game and that those shapeshifters were "bugs". No one could really die in a virtual reality right?

She was getting closer and closer to the next room and decided to load her gun. A black box installed on her right hand and she kicked the door. In a fraction of seconds her brain only processed the images of Yuko trapped and bleeding from her arms and Mayuyu's reaction to those images was to jump forward and fire her gun directly into the squares.

"_Mayuyu?"_

There was no time to waste, Mayuyu could be sure this was a virtual thing, but she first hand experienced that those _things_ would try to hurt her if she didn't fought back. So, when she jumped and fired, they didn't just waited and sensing the small balls entering their invisible shields, they fired back splitting another two limbs that made a cross, exploding when the balls touched them. Yuko bowed to her knees and covered her head when the explosions happened. Mayuyu ran closer to Yuko's position, running in circles, firing in all directions, trying to catch an opening to release her from the prison.

One of the limbs left its original position and tried to pierce Mayuyu from behind, but Mayuyu took an even shorter curve and saw it on time to jump to the side and roll to get up again.

'This isn't working!'

She touched her collar and rapidly accessed her Menu. Her hand went back to normal and she jumped again to the side avoiding another strike from the enemy. Yuko got up and was confused and panicking.

"_What is going on? Are you okay?"_

"_Load it! Quick, load you gun!"_

As she spoke, Mayuyu could see the confusion on her _sempai_'s eyes and expired frustrated. She couldn't waste any time to explain anything now.

'I guess I'll have to do it alone.'

Bringing her right arm to her chest, she then launched it to the side and it loaded a pyramidal black blade on it. She was gathering her strength to strike only one and precise blow, when something out of nowhere rolled in her direction.

Her eyes were caught by the vision alone and failed to go up to see where it came from, but rolling to her feet and stopping there, was Takajo Aki's head, ripped from her body, with eyes opened and a blank expression. Yuko loosed her sanity and screamed an ugly scream, echoing on the walls and stressing the squares rotating around her. Mayuyu was perplexed and her body completely froze at the vision. Yuko was able to watch the doors from the next room slowly close and caught a glimpse of who did it to the Team A's girl.

It was a girl too, tall and with straight long hair, wrapped in a ponytail. She had the same outfit Mayuyu and her had and by the profile her face features made, it only fitted one description.

Yuko couldn't believe it.

"_Rena…?..."_

…

**[PLAY]**

**TEAM A #9 TAKAJO AKI**

**[41 TO GO]**


End file.
